Dilemmas of difference, inclusion and disability: international perspectives on placement

Abstract

This paper reports findings about placement questions relevant to disability in education. It is part of a larger international study of the perspectives of 132 education practitioners and administrators in England, the USA and The Netherlands to several dilemmas of difference. Participants were interviewed about their perspectives to a presented placement dilemma about the consequences of having inclusive/separate placements for children with more severe disabilities/special educational needs. The data are presented in quantitative terms (degrees of recognition and resolution of dilemma) and qualitative terms (reasons, justifications and suggested resolutions). The findings show the continued recognition of this dilemma and commonalities in the resolution of the dilemma across the countries. Variations in responses to the dilemmas that relate to national differences are also discussed.

Keywords:

• dilemmas
• placement
• difference
• disability
• comparative

Notes

1. Though statistics are collected on a different basis, the national percentages in separate special schools can be interpreted as showing a difference between the overall use of full‐time separate settings across the three countries. The percentages of school‐aged students in the three countries in separate special schools are recorded as USA, 0.42% (2006), England, 1.3% (2005) and The Netherlands 2.23% (2005) (see for further details Norwich 2007).